4 years of abandoning a billion-dollar project
According to the people in Huong Phong commune (Hue city), a local electric pumping station has been abandoned for many years, showing no signs of operation, causing waste.
According to records at the construction site of Electric Pumping Station 15 (in Van Quat Dong village, Huong Phong commune, Hue city), Electric Pumping Station 15 has a design of 2 small attics, construction area of about 27m2; inside there are 2 pumps and suction tank, discharge tank.
It is known that the 15 Van Quat Dong electric pumping station project has a total investment of 1.5 billion VND, invested by the People's Committee of Huong Phong commune, started construction on September 3, 2019 and must be completed within 120 days (ie the project will be accepted and put into operation in early January 2020).
The purpose of the project to build a pumping station is to improve the agricultural life of the people; increase production efficiency, develop the local socio-economy, improve the quality of life of rural residents, contributing to gradually achieving the New Rural standards. Contrary to the original purpose, more than 4 years have passed, this 1.5 billion VND pumping station project is still unable to operate because it is not completed, has not been able to coordinate any drop of water to serve the seasonal cultivation process of the people and has been abandoned, causing a waste of resources.
Payment but not yet acceptance of the project
According to the project documents provided by the People's Committee of Huong Phong commune, of the total investment capital of 1.5 billion VND, there are more than 881 million VND for construction and installation costs, more than 271 million VND for equipment costs, more than 148 million VND for construction investment consulting costs, 32 million VND for project management costs and more than 102 million VND for contingency costs.
The project was invested by the People's Committee of Huong Phong commune (at that time, Huong Phong commune belonged to Huong Tra town, now the commune has merged into Hue city). The unit implementing the above project is An Nhien Urban Environment and Construction Company Limited (located in Huong Van ward, Huong Tra town, Thua Thien - Hue province). The investment capital for the project is 1.19 billion VND from the central budget, the rest is from the budget of Huong Tra town, Huong Phong commune and people's contributions.
Four years ago, when the project had not yet been put into operation and accepted, the People's Committee of Huong Phong commune had paid all costs to the construction unit, contrary to regulations.
Regarding the above issue, Mr. Phan Huu Vinh - Vice Chairman of Huong Phong Commune People's Committee - said that the reason why the project could not be put into operation was because the unit that designed the electrical profile did not provide the electrical profile of the pumping station to the locality, leading to the project not being energized for operation. Meanwhile, the fact that the project had not been accepted but the investor, Huong Phong Commune People's Committee, had paid all costs to the construction unit, Mr. Vinh admitted that the above action was completely against the regulations.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Vo Le Nhat - Chairman of Hue City People's Committee - said that the city has grasped the incident and will conduct a review, request the Commune People's Committee to report and have the most appropriate handling plan.
